Sign



J. BoYcE Er Al. 1,904,850

Aril 18, 1933.

` SIGN v Filed June 24. 1929y 2 sheets-sheet 1 4 /f/i/'g l ifff'g April 18, 1933. J. BOYCE El' AL 1,904,850

SIGN

Filed June 24, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patentd Apr. 18, `1933 Animati@ www@ results 'in ldifely mitin-gime @rgime Without illumination."

very' few colors and it is another object of the invention to provide a sign arranged to .give olf a light of a similar brilliant andv attractive character, in which sign many dif- .ferent colors and shades of colors may be economically provided.

Another object is to provide a sign having many of the advantages of a luminescent tube sign without the high cost of mainte- The above andother `objects are attained 'through theprovision of a sign unit adapted vto be mounted inl the conventional mannerA i in the side of an internally illuminated boX type ofsign :and formed vfrom a crystal (idle. transparent) glass'plate to produce a composite sign character giving the effect of 355.3, letterlembodying an alternative form of the drawings in which two or more distinct characters and made up of two or more parallel superposed character strokes all of which are raisedwith respect to the plate and have comparatively ythin walls-fand the `lower stroke or strokesbeing of 'lens-'like form, the outer or upper strokes beingV progressively narrower so as. to be flanked or bordered on .both sides the lower character strokes.l a l Other objeotsand advantages will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying Figure 1 is .a frontelevational view of a sign letter embodying theV preferred form of the invention. 1

Fig. `2 is a frontelevational view of a sign invention..

Fig. 3 is an enlarged crossy sectional ViewV of the letter shownl in Fig. 1 taken alongv the line 3,-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. `4 is asectional view through aV second alternativek construction.

Fig 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5+5 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a front elevational view of anoth-V g er alternative form.

'Fig...7 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 7-7 of Fig. 6.

V`V`Figis a frontelevational view :ofa letj ter embodying the invention.

Fig. 9 is a cross sectional view taken along the -line 9-5-.9 of Fig. 8. a

FigQlO vis afront elevational view of a sign letter embodying the invention. y

Fig. 11-is a sectional'view taken along the j line 11-11 of Fig. 10 vshowing a colored glass plate used for obtaining vvarious color effects inthe letter. Y l

,'*While we have shown in the accompanying drawings and will herein describe in detail thefpreferred embodiment of the invention `together .with several alternative .embodiments thereof, it is tobe understood that .this disclosure is given for the purpose of illustrating the invention and themany varied sign eifectsobtainable thereby and is not to provide a plurality of distinguished similarly shaped letters. of varying` sizes each Tprol ljecting "forwardly with-respect vto the plate and having comparatively thin' si'd walls,

"the smaller letters being superimposed upon the larger letters so that the larger letters lsupport smaller onesand form, in effect, a

border therefor. i .p

' In signs of thisgcharacter it is'desiiabley for the sake of economyto minimizethe loss of light intensity "and '.forthisy lreason the" sign; letter is formed from crystal (i. e. transpar` entuncolored) glass. The decoration 'ofthe' sign letterinay be most easily` madel on the inner surfacethereof and when'so made, the eective orl visible surface of the'paint is protected against weather and dirt and is visible through theorystal glasswalls ofthe embossed portion 15 and renders thefsign at?,

tractivewhen displayed duringy the day. l

In the n embodiments illustratedV in Figs. 1", 3, 4:, and 8 to 11, t h;je lerr'1bossed`-p'ortionlf` is *I shaped' to producei'two divstin'ct'similar let:l ters superposed one upon the lother. "The cross-sectional form of the twoV letters lthus `provided may be varied lconsiderably as Twill' be'apparent from a comparison' ofFigs'. 3and 4f. In the form shown in Figs. 1 andf3, thel outer or foremost letter consists fof anout-vv wardly convexed .portion or .character stroke 16 superposed upon and,supp'orted'forward ly of the plate these'cond and'larger letter which is 'formed by'outwardlyfextending border portions 17 .disposedl along tlie vsides' of thecentral characterstroke 16 andfo'rmed integrally vvithfthev stroke andthe plate,

f The border' poaoasl,negand- Outwardiyf from the plate Maat' anobtusel anglerelati'vely to the yplate to thepoint 1 8 lwhere they join the central portion 16 so that they are clea'if ly visible from the front'as'.wellasv from,

theside of the'sig'nfunitf. l As above pointedout, the sign unit is pre/ferably formed from crystal glass kso that'the light is transmitted through the borderporyl tions 17 ywithout material loss of intensityV or brilliancy, and to increase the` effectivenessv ofthe sign .the borderfportions 17 which forni izo the larger or lower letter.,l are l'areferably` lens-like-fin character so.) as to diffusetlie' light rays emanating fromf thesourceand providesfanlattractive contrast tothe crystal it can be read `from a comparatively great distance because of the definite separation of the luminous borders or margins of the character strokes, and it has been found that .5 the two borders of a four-inch sign letter are :.19 in the sizeof the letter as compared with prior art letters of the same dimensions.

fIn the 'form' shownin Figs. 1 to, the central strokes-16 of the letter 'are rendered opaque bymeans of a lustrousblack paint as indicated by the shading in Figs. 1 and 2y so that'when the ysign is displayed in the d-aytime without illumination, the central stroke will standout clearly and present an easily readable and attractive letter surrounded by light-reflecting colorless borders. If desired, the vopaque coating of the interior of the 'character stroke16 may be formed from brighticolored paint to enhance its attractiveness. l By using various colors of opaque paintfthe sign maker may provide an eX- tremely large variety of attractive color combinations forming effectivesigns for daytime display, and all the'signs thus produced are' unusually effective asy illuminated signs due to the bright light given voil' by the lenslike borders.

' The "sign .unit may also be used to produce a sign letter having parallel strokes of contrasting colors when displayed either lat night with interior illumination or during the daytimewithout illumination., Such a sign let-` ter maybefornied as shown in'Figs. 8 and:

9'byfcovering the inner surface of. the central'` character stroke 16 Vwith a coat 29 of glass borders 17a when the signis. displayed during thefd'ay and is also eifective at night asa color screen to filter the light rays fallingupon the inner vsurface of the str-oke 16.

`Vihen alight source of a color brighter than thef'colored coating 29 is provided, the*` letter will, when illuminated,present an extremely attractive sign. Thus when the character stroke`16 is'coat'ed with a translucent redpaint as yindicated in Figs. 8 andy 9, an amber vcoloredy light vsource may be used. Such alightsource may be formed by globes giving off a white light and an amber colored glass plate 30 positioned behind .the letter in the lmanner illustrated in Fig. 9.

Itphasbeen found that a very'interesting and attractive light effect may be obtained fl insujchcasesby using a glass 'pl-ate 30a having centralcharacter str-oke 16.

Another strikingly different sign maybe produced fromthe saine sign unitby coloring the interior of the character strokel as at .31 (Fig. 11) with vtransparent colored aint, the letter shown in v'Fig..v10 being shav edto indicate transparent reid paint. A white or colored light source may be employed with such -aletter.v 'Ifa colored light source is used, the central stroke 16 is of a contrasting col-or and both the strokeA 16 and the borders 17a give off a comparatively strong light to attract the attention of an observer.'y

A modified construction which provides an extremely attractive sign when transparl ent coloring is used, is shown in Figs. 6 and 7. In Athis 'construction the' embossed character stroke is formed from a series of steps or ribs 32 similar to the ribs 21 shown inF ig. 3. `The series of ribs 32 forming thetwoiside walls of the character strokes are stepped inwardly and are oined at their outer ends by a por-Q tion 33' parallel to the plate-14. A'TheV inner and outer surfaces of each rib 32 are atan angle to each other so that each rib constitutes a lens yand modifies lthe light given Vofl' byifthe sign so as to increase its effectiveness as point'-` ed out 1n connection with the discussion' 'of the letters shown in Figs. 1"toc5. y In'the embodiment shown in Figs.` 6. and five ribs 32 are provided and the ,outer two ribs and the connecting portion 33 are pref# erably colored as at 34 on their inner surfaces to form a sign letter .which isdefinitely dising.y Either a whiteor a colored light source may be used. lVhen acolored light source of a different color is provided,jthe letter will have an illuminated central character 'stroke of red with a border of contrasting color.

It will be readily seen that when the central character stroke is provided in theform shownin .F igs. 6 yand 7 'the lettermaybe used equally as well Las the letters shown in Figs. 1 to 5 and 8 to 11 for the production of the various sign combinations described in kconnection with those figures.

The form (of, letter shown in Figs. ,6and 7 does, however, possess anad'ditional advantage when the central character stroke is 'c0l` oredby means of a'transparent or t'ranslu` cent coating, since the light given voff-by the central. stroke has la delinite'variation in intensity due., to the fact that the stroke is formed frorntwo of the. ribs 32- and the con necting po-rtion Thus vthe connecting portion 23S-appears to be ofa comparatively light color surrounded by a darke'rbandof colored light which is in turn surrounded byl a lighter band vand then another dark band of colored light. Such a contrast of the intensity of the color obviously increases thel at-v It will. be need that this variation in intensity results from:

tractiveness ofthe letter.

iii

the. conformation of the letter and does not 1 the lighted borders. `This may be doneby i modifying the construction of theletter or by* merely painting the desired portions 'of the borders with opaquepaint. A

In suchl ases, the opaque paint'used to l mask certain ortionsof thelborders may be bossedportion are of such aform as to facili# of abright co or so that itwill contrast with p V fp'osite signlfcharacterembossed'tliereon',;said ,r n

t ,MW85V the color of the central character stroke 16 when the sign is displayed in the daytime;l

In case the attractiveness of the sign during the daytime' isA of primary importance, the borders may be coated with transparent paint ofka color which contrasts with color of theI central character stroke.

" n Should be observed that in eaehfypeiof letter herein shown, the side walls of the emtate decoration of thewallsto provide contrasting parallel characterstrokes. Thus 1n Figs.' 3, 4, and 8 to 11, the inner surface of the border 17 meetsthe innerfsurface of thecentral character stroke 16 at the point 18 so as to define a` line of separation therebetween. With this construction, a paint brsuh may be drawn rapidly along the inner surface of the central character stroke 16 without danger' of'coloring the borders 17 rwhich form the other character stroke.

Similarly in the form shown in Figs. 6 and 7 the inner surfaces of the `ribs 32 meet each other at an angleso that the innery surface of "selected ones of said ribs may readily becolored. With each form of sign above t described the borders may be illuminated by White light or by anyone of a large variety of colored lights `while a correspondinglyf great variation may be obtained in the 'ceni .tral stroke by the use ofdiiferent shades and' las to render it unnecessary for a sign maker to keep on hand a large variety of different kinds of sign units. Furthermore, all of the different sign combinationsyobtainable by the use of the present sign unitlare attractive and eiiicientI either as day or night signsand may be "operated and maintained eco-` nomjcally. v f

We claim as our invention z-f 1. A sign 4unit comprisingV a base f plate formed from ltransparent glass land a comaracter wider than said' firstlfstrbke and Shaving, 22E

@aid p. t t0 fgirefthe affect* hara'c'tersl of difflv respect,- p

.t0 'Sadplatav and a second/Minster trl n r portion z`positioned on"y each sidefof lsaid Clfv i tral strokefso Jasfto form anniform'raised te provide a lens effect! and la "toatinslofzcol' Pani/01,1Wiessee Samara o formed fro-Ing, transparent glass, a'4 comi f @ther and beer4 psietaeajfgrwardly,sfigati iiaryi'jiig `lthicknes`sf to proyide len ingxiongifudinalytra; c n, a A; .Sign i ,una ycompi:is-ing @aaa-plaie fimedlffrin transparent-[glass,and axiome# a ters .offy .different :sizes perposedj onegrrpgon fv distinct l ing thin-walled characters 4 f ner surfaces meetingatan; angle lat a point trok@ having i intermediate the plate'andthe outermost eX- r tremity ofthe' stroke to provide `a definite line extending longitudinally l of the Vcom-I y posite stroke to' facilitate decorationk 4of a definite portiongof saidstroke, and a coating e of paint applied to a definite longitudinally extending portion of the inner side -of said stroke, said portion extendingelaterally to i angularly disposed innersurfaces.

L A sign unit comprisi g a base plateof i glass having a raised characterstroke thereon andl projecting forwardly therefrom, saidl strokehaving in cross section anoutwardly"` Aconvened central `portion positioned a"wsub` y,stantial distance forwardly of the l:base

plate, and a light-transmitting border por!v l tionat each side of lsaid central "portion con# nected to said plate and central portion and vpositioned at an obtuse angleto saidplate, y p

said central portionbeingfopaque and pro- `jecting forwardly for a suiiicient distance to` prevent intermingling of `the lighttransmitted through the two border portions.

554 Asign unit comprising a base plate of glass having an embossed character stroke vformed thereon and projecting,:forwardlyil therefrom',`said stroke having in cross-section an opaque outwardlyconvexed` central as i the line deiinedby the intersection of said 110 portion positioned forwardly of the plate,

and a lens-shaped border portion-on eachl side of and supporting said central portion in its forward position, said 'convexed central portion extending forwardly for a sufficient distance to definitely separate the light rays passing through'said border portions.

6. A sign unit of thecharacter described comprising a plate of glass having acharacter stroke embossed on its forward face, saidv i stroke having, in cross section, an opaque outwardly convexed central portion and transparent border portions connecting said plate and central portion and supporting said central portion forwardly of said plate, said border portionsbeing of gradually decreasing thickness as they extend away from` n said plate.

7. Alsign unit of the character described comprising a plate of glass having a raised character stroke pressed outwardly there# from', said stroke having, in cross section, an outwardly convexed'opaque central portion positioned forwardly of said plate and lenslikel transparent border portions joining the plate and the edges of the convex central portion, each border portion comprising `a straight section extending outwardly' from said plate at an obtuse angle thereto and be- 

